Postgame: Montreal

The numbers were clearly not on the Crew’s side for the first hour of today’s match at
Montreal.

-Montreal was 11-0-3 when scoring first this year

-The Crew was 0-11-3 when allowing the first goal this year

-The Crew had gone eight road games (0-7-1) without a win

-Montreal is atop the Eastern Conference

But then suddenly, the Crew came charging back. Goals by Chad Marshall and Dominic Oduro sealed
the 2-1 comeback victory against the Impact and, at least for a few hours, put some pressure on
teams ahead of the Crew in the standings.

“When you’re down in the standings and the teams ahead of you are dropping points, this was
ultra-critical for our push to try and make a playoff spot,” interim coach Brian Bliss said. “With
the early game today we’ve put some pressure on some teams above us.”

The moment the final whistle blew, the Crew remained in eighth place in the Eastern Conference
but was only two points in back of fifth-place New England with five games to go. Granted, the
teams in fifth through seventh place all still were yet to play this weekend and two were playing
each other, but a Crew loss would have all but officially eliminated the club from postseason
contention.

Instead, it was a comeback win worth celebrating.

“Obviously with where we are, every game is huge,” said defender Chad Marshall, who scored his
first goal of the season. “All we can do now is fight every game and try to get ourselves back into
it.”

Marshall’s redemptionThe Crew’s defender was not the only player to blame for Montreal’s game, but he took
responsibility for it afterward. Patrice Bernier’s corner went far-post to Matteo Ferrari, who
headed it back toward the mouth of the goal. Four Crew players in the area moved toward Ferrari and
none checked MLS Golden Boot leader Marco Di Vaio, who easily headed it past Crew goalkeeper Matt
Lampson for the early lead.

“The ball got played back post, the guy headed it back high, I thought Matt was coming out for
it and he thought I was going to head it out,” Marshall said. “It just needs to be better
communication.”

Marshall’s header from a Federico Higuain free kick marked his first goal of the season and
helped spark the Crew comeback. Dominic Oduro would add the winner in the 79th minute, snapping a
seven-game streak without a goal.

“Personally, it is (good) but I would give my goal for the team to get three points,” Oduro
said. “I wouldn’t say I got the monkey off my chest, but something like that. I’ve been close a
couple of times, but Higuain sent me a great ball and I was able to put my chance in the net. I’m
happy I scored but I’m happy we got three points.”

Said Bliss: “I think our guys fell asleep a little bit on the two-man corner. Montreal’s a good
team and they took advantage of it. We reorganized in the second half with the same spirit but a
little bit more commitment. We were able to get the restart goal and we turned them over and ended
up with the second goal.”

ShufflingWith a number of injuries to deal with, Bliss had to make several changes to his lineup.
Higuain returned after missing last weekend’s game with an injury and was able to play a full 90
minutes, and Bliss paired him with Jairo Arrieta up top. That sent Ryan Finley to the bench and
Dominic Oduro back to the midfield, which saw a few other changes as well.

Justin Meram was out of the lineup after starting the last three games in place of Oduro and
Tony Tchani made his first start since June 5 as Ethan Finlay went back to the bench as well.

Defensively, Tyson Wahl made his first Crew start in central defense alongside Marshall while
Agustin Viana returned to the lineup at left back.

“It’s never easy,” Bliss said of assembling the lineup. “That’s why you have 30 guys on the
roster. You have to rely on guys to fill the holes. We’ve asked guys to fill in roles and play
different spots and give us the minutes that are required. To their credit the guys have stood up
to the test for the most part.”